Air Force Scientific Advisory Board

The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board is a Federal Advisory Committee.

The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is a Federal Advisory Committee that provides independent advice on matters of science and technology relating to the Air Force mission, reporting directly to the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Since its formation in 1944, studies and technical reviews by the SAB have had strong impacts on the science and technology programs conducted by the Air Force, and on the resulting capabilities that have emerged from these programs to support the Air Force mission. The Board consists of members appointed by the Secretary of Defense from among the nation's leading experts in science, technology, engineering, and technical program leadership across industry, FFRDCs and national laboratories, and academia. They offer their time to benefit the Air Force and the nation by identifying applications of technology that can improve Air Force capabilities or that could enable entirely new capabilities, and advising on the Air Force science and technology portfolio to maximize its value in supporting the Air Force mission. The SAB is tasked each year by the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force to conduct studies on topics deemed critical to the Air Force mission and recommend applications of technologies that can improve Air Force capabilities. Current studies being conducted by the Board are summarized on this site, and a complete list of all previous SAB studies is also available here. The SAB also conducts annual in-depth reviews of the science and technology programs in the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Each of these week-long reviews addresses programs in one of the AFRL Technical Directorates, with essentially all AFRL research programs being reviewed over every four-year cycle. These reviews have informed Air Force leadership and influenced science and technology pursued and adopted by the Air Force. As it has since its formation, the SAB today continues its role of looking into the future to help enable affordable technological pre-eminence for the U.S. Air Force and the Nation.